It’s hard to imagine life without chocolate, but the candy industry has been struggling to maintain standards and prices in the wake of a global cocoa shortage.
The reasons for this shortage are complex, though largely center on changing conditions in West African countries Ghana and the Ivory Coast (as per ABC News) which produce around 60-70% of the world’s cocoa. A combination of adverse weather linked to climate change, a disease called cocoa swollen shoot virus, fungal issues on trees, soil degradation, and fertilizer shortages (among many other factors) has seen global cocoa production shrink.
